Have you ever leveraged information from a live event that you’ve hosted, or attended, and integrated it into your content marketing efforts? The truth is, live events can be an incredible catalyst in the creation of fresh content — and breathe new life into your content marketing strategy.
In fact, live events are so useful that we recently did a deep dive into this topic in Part 1 and Part 2 of our series entitled, How content marketing, live events & DAM work together. Be sure to check them out for an in-depth look at how Widen mines and shares nuggets of relevant content from their live events, and how digital asset management plays a critical role in the process of successful content marketing.
In this article, we’re offering a quick overview of five proven ways you can integrate live events into your content marketing.
1. Attend & host events you’re passionate about
If you love the content that’s being presented at an event, you’ll learn more, meet great people, and you’ll be in a position to share this great content with others who care about it — including your coworkers and your clients. This sharing of information helps build relationships, aligning you with customers, potential customers and your internal team.
2. Plan ahead & all year long
Whether you host, attend, sponsor or speak at an event, content marketing derived from live events is an ongoing initiative. Content marketing works best when it’s fluid and consistent. Starts and stops make the whole process more difficult, and create an inconsistency in communication of insightful information. And since live events have hard deadlines baked right in, why not utilize the content that’s already been created and polished — and repurpose it?
3. Record everything & repurpose
Did you know that a very large percentage of events, ones that offer relevant and useful information, are never recorded? According to Joe Pulizzi, one of the thought leaders in content marketing, each unrecorded event is a lost opportunity. We couldn’t agree more. Recording the event is the easiest, and most efficient way to capture the information, which can then be shared via social media, blog posts, snippets of the recording, transcripts and so on.
Quite often, after an event is over, the most popular parts of your event can be expanded upon before they’re repurposed. This might look like an hour-long webinar on a topic that originally was part of something else, or a half-day workshop that addresses the top five pain points your clients are currently experiencing within their business. Without the recorded event, you might not be able to pick up on some of these hot topics and trends. The golden rule here is to record content once — and repurpose fifteen times!
4. Start small with your content & grow over time
To begin, you don’t have to create an event as big as the Widen Summit. In fact, it’s easier, and wiser, to start with something small like a one-hour workshop or webinar (remember live events happen online, too). You’re much more likely to follow through and present a live event that feels manageable, as opposed to one that seems impossible. If you’re wondering what you’d talk about during the event, the easiest answer is to turn to the subject-matter experts within your company. There’s a good chance they’ll have a topic or two they’d be able to talk about for an hour right on the spot! You can also attend someone else’s event and blog or podcast your thoughts on what you observed or learned. Remember, your content should include your point of view or opinion on the subject, and not be a simple regurgitation of what the presenter said. To be viewed as a thought leader, we must share our thoughts — no matter how scary that may feel.
5. Extend all your live experiences through content
Always be thinking about the different ways you can extend the power of your live experiences with content-driven experiences. You can share content online and offline — before, during and after your event. What’s interesting is that a blog post that manifested from a live event can be shared in its entirety, then shared on social media in snippets. More popular concepts can then be fleshed out into a series of short videos, and then into a full-length webinar. Remember our “Rule of 15,” emphasizing the goal of repurposing your big rock content at least 15 times to maximize your reach and opportunities to connect with audiences in the channels and media types preferred most.
In conclusion
As you can see, live events hold a world of potential in the creation of new content. Examining content in different ways creates an organic process where new content is often the iteration of something previously created. It’s an evolution-based approach that makes for a solid, easy to execute content marketing strategy.
Learn more from our in-depth articles on this subject in Part 1 and Part 2 of How content marketing, live events & DAM work together. You can also watch our entire webinar, How content marketing & events work together.
Tweet me at @JakeAthey or contact us any time you want to chat about content marketing, events or digital asset management.